Apple iPod 40GB

November 26th, 2004

Pros: Plenty of storage for even highest bit-rate tunes; user-friendly click-wheel; dual platform support; USB & FireWire connections; solid battery life; serves as a decent address book, calendar.
Cons: Too bulky for active sports; stingy on accessories – omits remote and carrying case; no bookmark for MP3 playback.
Verdict: Apple iPod has both style and substance to keep both PC & Mac users satisfied.

The fourth iteration of Apple's MP3 player, which now holds 20GB or 40GB of tunes depending on the model, is still the sleek and sexy iPod we all know and love. Besides slashing $100 off the same capacity as earlier models, Apple has revamped the navigation with a click wheel; improved the battery life by 50%; streamlined the menu functions; and lastly, become stingy on accessories.

Package Content
- Apple iPod 40GB
- iTunes CD
- 35-page manual
- USB 2.0 cable
- FireWire cable
- Docking station

Improving Wheel
The most prominent improvement to this iPod is the click wheel, which replaces the backlit buttons of the previous generation. But Apple did not do that just so to make iPod a tad different. By integrating the four main buttons (menu, fast-forward, rewind and play) to the four direction of the touch-sensitive wheel, this thoughtful tweak gives you more tactile feedback, and provides at least some orientation of the buttons in case you are working blind. The center of the wheel is also discarded in favor of a tactile button for the same reasons. The wheel, whose color changed to light gray, remains an integral part of the same intuitive and responsive controls with deadly precision.

Stingy with Accessories
Changes to touch wheel aside, the two-inch back-light LCD, hold switch, headphone jack, and dock connector stay in the same place as the predecessor. Even though there's no button labeled for turning on the back-light, holding the menu button will do the trick, something that is commonly known, but undocumented. Holding the play button will turn off the player as well. As far as size goes, the new Apple iPod 20GB (4.1" x 2.4" x 0.57"; 5.6 oz.) and the 40GB brethren (4.1" x 2.4" x 0.69"; 6.2 oz.) are only marginally thinner than the same capacities of last generation. Besides the thickness and weight difference, the iPod 20GB omits a remote, docking station and carrying case, the value of which add up to more than $100 price slash. Apple did bundle a dock with the 40GB model.

Software Aspects
Apple iPod's software has a few subtle improvements. First is the addition of the shuffle song option. And the On-The-Go function now allows to create multiple playlists, though, there’s still no way to rename the play-lists from the default 'On-The-Go x' due to lack of a text input system. You can also be able to speed up or slow down the reading playback speed of Audiobooks by 25%. In the Extras menu, you'll find alarm clock, contacts, calendars, notes and games. On a Mac, you can let iSync take care contact and calendar synchronizations; on a PC, you can either drag and drop vCard into the iPod, or turn to third party utility like iPodSync. As with many MP3 players, iPod offers astounding 22 equalizer presets, but it skips over user-adjustable EQ settings. Diving into the equalizer menu every time you want to make a change is still a chore. Hopefully, the EQ setting will be moved to the root menu with a future firmware.

Battery Power
While equalizers may enrich sounds, they also effectively reduced the battery life from 13 hours of 192kbps MP3 playback to just 9 hours. Playing tunes encoded in Apple Lossless also ended up depleting the battery in 8 hours. Under normal usage, there should be enough juice to last even a cross-Pacific flight. A full recharge via a Hi-Speed USB or FireWire connection took about 4 hours and 3 hours to complete respectively. During sync, USB halts battery recharging until data transfer is complete. A FireWire 6-pin port is able to do both simultaneously. Though, only PC desktops commonly carry 6-pin FireWire port whereas PC laptops generally are equipped with the 4-pin un-powered counterpart.

Mac & PC Friendly
Out of the box, the iPod 20GB & 40GB support Windows 2000/XP and Mac 10.1.5 or later. The bundled CD contains iTunes 4.6 and a utility that can format the MP3 player for either platform. The 35-page manual covers most aspects, but it is not the most comprehensive that we have seen. When iPod is attached, iTunes will start automatically and ask you to give a name for the new player. The jukebox will then allow you to import your MP3 arsenal, and to transfer existing play-lists or the entire library to the iPod in any manner. Any file formats readable by iTunes can be played back on the iPod, including MP3 (up to 320kbps), AAC (128kbps), WAV, Audible, AIFF and Apple Lossless.

Dual Connections
Our Hi-Speed USB connection, powered by Intel ICH4 USB host, managed to transfer at 8MB/s on a Windows XP with Service Pack 2. On our iBook, FireWire came in 9MB/s. Interestingly, the PowerBook G4 1.33Ghz 17" finished last, crawling at 5MB/s. This may attribute to the FireWire chipset used in that particular laptop. On both PC and Mac, the iPod doubles as a removable hard drive that handles all file transfers. Third party software like Migo Personal for iPod also synchronizes data such as Outlook emails, Internet bookmarks, documents, and brings along your wallpaper, cookies and browsing history.

Where to buy Apple iPod 40GB?


User Review(s)

"Capacity and sound quality are great, cost is not" Sound quality and portability were most important to me and iPod comes through in those areas. Storage capacity is, of course, dependent on the size of the device but even the smaller ones have plenty of room for my needs. The battery life is not very good and is hard to replace. Transferring iPod to your PC is tricky but I've seen some posts that explain how to do it and I've heard that the newer, more expensive, ones don't have the software glitches that plague the others. BUT, these things are expensive compared to PC-based mp3's. The only reason I'm getting another one is because it's free. You can get one by going to http://www.freeiPods.com/?r=12878045. You have to go through some hoops (i.e. sign up for a credit card, buy printer cartridges, etc.) and then have 5 people use your referral. I registered 1.5 weeks ago (12/16/04) and need only two more. That's worth it for a free iPod. Good luck! From John, December 28, 2004

"is ok but could be better" good player although the lycra mini mp3 sound a lot better. uses one AAA that lasts forever. The ipod is not as good sounding (I'm a recording engineer) is kind of big in size, and too slippery. I've dropped it many times, and in comparison I've never dropped my cel or ipaq. Needs more software built in like contact without adding plug ins. Maybe fm radio? From enrique martinez, December 04, 2004

"Still the best user interface." IMO This is the best music player out there. Other, cheaper player can't match the ease-of-use of the iPod-iTunes combo. You can get swiss army knife players that will play FM radio and do other things, but they are generally bulkier and not as well-executed than the iPod. Plus, you can add these features to your iPod through attachments, if and when you need them. In summary, the iPod does digital music and it does it better than any other player I've tried. From Ben W., November 29, 2004

"It's the software, stupid" People always forget to compare the software when reviewing music players. The iPod is the hands-down best player because it is very easy to use. Loading music into the thing is easier than with any other player because the iTunes jukebox software that comes free from Apple is easy and simple enough that anyone can use it. And the actual iPod itself has very intuitive controls, whereas other players are often difficult to use. Add to this a very hip industrial design and you acheive the 'cool' factor often spoken about as the single reason for the iPod's success. The reason the iPod is cool is because trend-setters (musicians, pro athletes, etc.) are often seen with one. The iRiver, Dell, Sony, and Creative devices will never be cool because you have to be a geek with lots of time on your hands to figure out how to actually use them. Apple does and will continue to own this market because they understand how to integrate consumer hardware and software to create a total experience that anybody can enjoy. Nothing else comes close and the sales numbers prove it. From brian, November 29, 2004

We're currently upgrading our user review system; so we won't be accepting new reviews for now.

iPod 40GB Specs

Interface(s)	Hi-Speed USB, FireWire 400
Released date	July 2004
Platforms	Windows 2000, Windows XP, MacOS 10.3.x, MacOS 10.2.x, MacOS 10.1.x
Dimensions	4.1" x 2.4" x 0.69"
Weight	6.2 oz.
Natively supported music format(s)	MP3, AAC, WAV, Audible, AIFF, Apple Lossless
Signal to noise ratio	--
Battery life	12 hrs.
Storage	40GB built-in hard drive
Storage expansion type	None
FM tuner	Optional via 3rd party add-on
Voice recording	Optional via 3rd party add-on
Software	iTunes 4.6 for Mac, Windows
Remote included?	Optional
Inputs / outputs	Headphone jack
Extras?	Dock
Screen	--
Photo import?	--
Natively supported video format(s)	--
Max output	--
Line-in recording?	--
Power source	Built-in Li-Polymer battery rechargeable via USB port
Warranty	One year (optional AppleCare 2-year service)

Extras
Lost a USB cable? Get a replacement USB cable.
Running out of USB ports? Get an extra USB hub.
You may need a new USB card to achieve Hi-Speed USB speeds.
Confirm with our USB 2.0 FAQ if you have Hi-Speed USB on your PC.